London was placed 29th out of the 55 towns and cities in the comparison, but the report's authors noted there was a "wide variation" between the safest boroughs and the most dangerous.

If ranked as cities in their own right, the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames, Sutton and Richmond would be near the bottom of the list, while Westminster, Islington and Hackney would be ranked in 7th, 10th and 11th place respectively.

Bottom of the overall list was Southend, with 30.01 crimes per 1,000 people, with Poole, in Dorset, (32.71) and Colchester, Essex, (33.9) just above it.

Nottingham also had the highest murder rate - with 5.21 crimes for every 100,000 population - followed by St Helens, Merseyside, with 4.87, according to Reform. London came 21st with 2.12.

On gun crime, Nottingham was fourth with 7.61 crimes per 10,000 residents, with Bradford (12.53) top of the list, followed by Leeds (12.45) and Northampton (10.24).

'Lies, damn lies'

Jon Collins, leader of Nottingham City Council, demanded the study be withdrawn until its authors "get their facts right" and "before it does any further damage to Nottingham, its businesses, its universities and its reputation".

How can we possibly be the most dangerous city in the country when there are 10 times as many murders in London?

Jon CollinsNottingham City Council leader

"There are lies, damn lies and statistics. Once again, people are bandying around statistics without fully understanding them and the implications of getting them wrong," he said.

"How can we possibly be the most dangerous city in the country when, for example, there are 10 times as many murders in London, according to this report, than in Nottingham?"

Chief Superintendent Marcus Beale, police commander for Nottingham city centre, said Nottingham's population is "significantly higher" than the survey suggests and it was being unfairly compared with some areas with large swathes of countryside.

"This is a fabulous city with a thriving economy. It is renowned for its shopping, its great nightlife and attracts thousands of university students every year," he said.

He added the number of offences in the city had fallen by almost 10,000 since 2002.

"Likewise, gun crime continues to fall, dispelling the myth that Nottingham was ever the UK's gun capital," he said.

'Better information'

Report co-author Blair Gibbs said: "The government's key message that crime has been falling masks a huge variation between the safest and most dangerous urban areas.

"Better information and improved policing based on direct accountability to local communities is urgently needed to drive down crime and increase public safety."

It said its findings suggested the Home Office's key target that crime in high crime areas should fall more quickly than in other areas was "insufficiently challenging".

It said local rather than national initiatives were likely to have the greatest impact on crime.

The report gathered statistics from police forces using the Freedom of Information Act and took population data from the 2001 Census.